There are two basic types of poultry drinking fountains: ground supported fountains and suspension-type fountains. Typical ground support fountains, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,033,308 and 2,669,220 have supporting arrangements that restrict access to the water in the fountain, have drinking bowls that have a large volume of water compared to the access area thereof, and do not lend themselves to easy adjustability. The capability of a drinker to adjust depending upon the size of the poultry that will be drinking from the fountain is important since if the drinker is too high off the ground, the animals will not be able to readily drink therefrom, and if it is too close to the ground the poultry will have to spend too long a period of time at the fountain per volume of water consumed because their inherent drinking technique is inefficient when they must bend over too far.
Conventional suspension-type drinkers--such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,283,746 and 3,685,495,--provide the necessary adjustability depending upon the poultry size by untying the hanger strap, pulling the drinker upwardly, and retying the strap, and also provide a large drinking area for a given volume of water within the drinking trough. However, such suspension-type drinkers are not as readily movable and placeable within a poultry-raising area as ground supported fountains since they require a support member that is accessibly located directly vertically above the position in which they are to be disposed. Additionally, the adjustment mechanism can be cumbersome and time consuming depending upon how high the vertical support for the drinker is located above the ground.
According to the present invention, a ground-supported poultry drinking fountain is provided that has the readily locatable, high access, and adjustability characteristics of suspension-type drinkers and the readily locatable advantages of ground supported drinkers, without the drawbacks of either conventional ground supported drinkers or suspension-type drinkers. According to the present invention, a poultry drinking fountain is provided that comprises a generally bell-shaped member with a generally annular trough portion at the lower end thereof and a hollow interior. A ground-engaging support member having sufficient mass to support the trough without tip-over is disposed within the hollow interior of the bell-shaped member. A valve support member mounts a valve for supplying water from a source to the trough portion of the bell-shaped member, and connection means are provided extending from the support member through the bell-shaped member to the valve support member for rigidly attaching the support member to the valve support member. The connecting means include adjustment means for providing adjustment of the vertical spacing of the valve support member, and thus a generally annular trough from the bottom of the support member. Spring means are provided for suspending the bell-shaped member from the valve support member independent of the connection means so that the annular trough will reciprocate vertically under the influence of the spring means with varying amounts of water disposed in the trough.
The connection means according to the invention may take a variety of forms. For instance, a single rod concentric with the support member and the bell-shaped member may be provided, the rod having a plurality of openings formed therein at vertically spaced points therealong. These openings cooperate with an opening forming the valve support member, and releasable means--such as nut and bolt connections--pass through the valve support member opening and one of the openings in the rod for affixing the valve support member and the rod together. Alternatively, a plurality of rods may be provided with the valve member disposed centrally of the rods, and adjustment is provided by a number of openings in each of the rod members cooperating with abutment means formed on the valve support member for receipt of bolts or the like passing through the rods' openings. Three rod members normally are provided where the valve member is concentric with the bell-shaped member and the support member.
The support member preferably comprises a hollow container adapted to be filled with water or other fluent material. A releasable connector is provided at the top of the support member for connecting the support member to the connection means, while allowing access to the interior of the support member so that it can be filled with water or like fluent material. The support member may further comprise an annular bottom portion of material that is extremely massive--such as lead shot--and the ring of massive material may be disposed directly over a ring of serrations or like force-concentrating means formed on the bottom of the support member, so that the weight of the fountain is generally transferred to a relatively small area of the ground engaged by the support member to maximize immobility of the support member with respect to the ground.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a poultry drinking fountain having the majority of the advantages of both conventional ground supported and suspension-type of poultry drinking fountains. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.